school district journal human resource management

Management Research NewsEffective human resource management of school districtsJohn Thompson Brian H. Kleiner

Article information:To cite this document:John Thompson Brian H. Kleiner, (2005),"Effective human resource management of school districts",Management Research News, Vol. 28 Iss 2/3 pp. 42 - 55Permanent link to this document:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/01409170510785084

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Users who downloaded this article also downloaded:Jeremy Huntley, Brian H. Kleiner, (2005),"Effective human resource management ofcounty employees", Management Research News, Vol. 28 Iss 11/12 pp. 52-59 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/01409170510785237Tung-Chun Huang, (2001),"The effects of linkage between business and human resource managementstrategies", Personnel Review, Vol. 30 Iss 2 pp. 132-151 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/00483480110380316Seyed-Mahmoud Aghazadeh, (2003),"The future of human resource management", Work Study, Vol.52 Iss 4 pp. 201-207 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/00438020310479045

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Ef fec tive Hu man Re sourceMan age ment of School Dis trictsby John Thomp son and Brian H. Klei ner

Ab stract

This ar ti cle ad dresses many es sen tial on go ing school dis trict hu man re -source is sues; how ever the cen tral fo cus is on the ex traor di nary ac tions thatmake hu man re source man age ment in school dis tricts truly ef fec tive. This is achieved through re search of hu man re source man age ment books, ar ti clesand case stud ies and by draw ing on nine years of per sonal ex pe ri ence inaudit ing school dis tricts.

This ar ti cle fo cuses on ef fec tive hu man re source man age ment of in -struc tors in pub lic school dis tricts. The ma jor top ics ex plored within hu manre source man age ment are re cruit ing, em ploy ment and la bour re la tions.

Effective re cruit ing can be achieved through on go ing com mu ni ca -tions and re search to proj ect needs and set up rea son able time lines so thatthe best pos si ble in struc tors can be hired. Teacher evalua tions are a valu able though un deru til ised tool to im prove teach ing and learn ing. With co- operative train ing and com mu ni ca tion, the col lec tive bar gain ing pro cesscan be trans formed from ac ri mo ni ous to problem- solving.

Human re source di rec tors should de velop en vi ron ments in whichcen tral and school level ad mini stra tion work closely with in struc tors anddraw on the ex pe ri ence and lead er ship skills of in struc tors to get the mostout of the lim it less hu man re source po ten tial of the dis trict.

In the fall of 2002, about 69.2 mil lion per sons were en rolled inAmeri can schools and col leges. About 4.3 mil lion were em ployed as ele -men tary and sec on dary school teach ers and as col lege fac ulty. Other pro fes -sional, ad min is tra tive, and sup port staff of edu ca tional in sti tu tionsnum bered 4.8 mil lion. So, about 78.3 mil lion peo ple were in volved, di rectly or in di rectly, in pro vid ing or re ceiv ing for mal edu ca tion. In a na tion with apopu la tion of about 288 mil lion, more than one out of every four per sonspar tici pated in for mal edu ca tion. The larg est sin gle group em ployed in edu -ca tion was ele men tary and sec on dary school teach ers. This group of in -struc tors has in creased 27 per cent since 1990 to about 3.5 mil lion in 2002(Sny der & Hoff man, 2003).

The most valu able re source in the field of edu ca tion is clearly the tal -ents of peo ple. Man age ment of these peo ple is one of the most im por tantfunc tions in all of edu ca tion. It is es sen tial to use the most ju di cious meansto ac com plish the goal of qual ity edu ca tion within the ex ist ing budg et aryand other con straints.

42 Management Research News

Ef fec tive Hu manRe sourceMan age ment ofSchool Dis tricts

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Fo cus

There are many as pects to hu man re source man agemnent of school dis tricts. The em pha sis of this ar ti cle will be on ef fec tive hu man re source man age -ment in school dis tricts. It will fo cus on those ac tivi ties that most con trib uteto ward pro duc ing the de sired re sult with the hu man re sources avail able.Many as pects of hu man re source man age ment in school dis tricts are simi larto other or gani sa tions. This ar ti cle will fo cus on the as pects that are uniqueto school dis tricts.

School dis trict em ploy ees are gen er ally split into two ma jor groups:1) in struc tors who are re ferred to as cer tifi cated or aca demic em ploy ees and2) non- instructors or sup port staff who are re ferred to as clas si fied em ploy -ees. The clas si fied em ploy ees are gen er ally a sig nifi cant por tion of thework force in any school dis trict, of ten rep re sent ing a ma jor ity of the num -bers of em ploy ees and over forty per cent of the pay roll. How ever, since thehu man re source is sues for clas si fied em ploy ees in school dis tricts are simi -lar to other or gani sa tions, this ar ti cle will fo cus on the cer tifi cated em ploy -ees. Cer tifi cated em ploy ees gen er ally in clude in struc tional sup port staffsuch as coun sel lors, li brari ans and some ad min is tra tors along with in struc -tors. This ar ti cle will fo cus on the in struc tors. The term school dis tricts in -cludes dis tricts that edu cate some por tion of the stu dents in gradeskin der gar ten through grade 14. Grades 13 and 14 are gen er ally taught incom mu nity col lege dis tricts. This ar ti cle will fo cus on kin der gar ten throughgrade 12 dis tricts (K-12). K-12 school dis tricts can fur ther be split into pub -lic and pri vate schools. This ar ti cle will fo cus on pub lic schools. The ma jorhu man re source man age ment top ics dis cussed within this scope will be:

* Re cruit ment - get ting good peo ple,

* Em ploy ment - keep ing and de vel op ing good peo ple and

* La bour re la tions - keep ing peo ple happy.

En vi ron ment

It is im por tant to un der stand the en vi ron ment in which school dis tricts op er -ate be fore dis cuss ing hu man re source man age ment. The school dis trict en -vi ron ment in cludes the fol low ing ma jor stake hold ers:

* Boards of edu ca tion

* Ad min is tra tors

* In struc tors and sup port staff

* La bour un ions

* Stu dents/par ents

The board mem bers of the school dis trict are elected by the vot erswithin the bounda ries of the school dis trict. The board sets the ma jor poli -

Volume 28 Number 2/3 2005 43

Ef fec tive Hu manRe source

Man age ment ofSchool Dis tricts

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cies of the dis trict. They hire and fire the dis tricts top ad min is tra tors. Thedis trict ad min is tra tors are re spon si ble for car ry ing out the poli cies of theboard of edu ca tion. The in struc tors and sup port staff of the dis trict per formthe work of the dis trict in clud ing edu cat ing stu dents and pro vid ing sup portserv ices to stu dents, par ents and in struc tors.

They carry out the poli cies of the board at the di rec tion of the dis trictad mini stra tion. La bour un ions ne go ti ate with the dis trict ad mini stra tion onbe half of the teach ers and clas si fied staff. Stu dents and par ents are es sen -tially cus tom ers of the dis trict. They or their chil dren re ceive edu ca tionfrom the dis trict. Par ents also pro vide sup port that is es sen tial to good edu -ca tion by as sist ing stu dents with home work and by vol un teer ing their timeand re sources to sup port school ac tivi ties. As cus tom ers, stu dents and es pe -cially par ents have a voice in the edu ca tion of their chil dren. They can ex -press their con cerns to teach ers, school ad mini stra tion, dis trictad mini stra tion or the board mem bers in pri vate or at pub lic board meet ings.They can also af fect change in the dis trict by vot ing and/or cam paign ing foror against par ticu lar board mem bers and/or poli cies.

Each stake holder has their own and very unique per spec tive of theschool dis trict. Their view of qual ity edu ca tion, of where the dis trict is cur -rently and where it should be can vary widely. Each stake holder has theirunique agen das and in ter ests. The stake hold ers are not al ways will ing tosac ri fice their own in ter ests for the in ter est of the dis trict as a whole; they are not will ing to sac ri fice short- term gains for long- term gains. So, the hu manre source de part ment of a school dis trict, par ticu larly the hu man re source di -rec tor has the dif fi cult job of try ing to keep all of the stake hold ers happywhile ef fec tively man ag ing the hu man re sources of the dis trict.

Effective hu man re source man age ment is im por tant in all fields. It ises pe cially im por tant in serv ice or gani sa tions. In school dis tricts, where edu -ca tion is the ul ti mate goal and per son nel costs (sal ary and bene fits) ac countfor 70% to 80% of to tal budg ets, it is one of the most im por tant func tions.

Re cruit ment

The first step to ef fec tive hu man re source man age ment is re cruit ment. Forschool dis tricts this be gins with a needs fore cast. Fore cast ing your in ter nalde mand for teach ers be gins with pro ject ing stu dent en rol ments at all gradelev els. Hu man re source di rec tors should work closely with the ad mis sionsde part ment and pay close at ten tion to area hous ing de vel op ments, cen susand demo graphic data and en rol ment of feeder in sti tu tions to help pre pareen rol ment pro jec tions. The ad mis sions de part ment will pro vide hu man re -source de part ments with cur rent en rol ment pro jec tions based on cur rent en -rol ment at each grade level, pro mo tion rates, stu dents leav ing the dis trictand ap pli ca tions of new stu dents. Longer- range en rol ment pro jec tions canbe made based on area popu la tion changes based on sig nifi cant fac tors likenew hous ing, new busi ness de vel op ments and en rol ment of feeder in sti tu -



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tions. Feeder in sti tu tions are pub lic or pri vate schools or day care cen tresthat cur rently serve stu dents who will even tu ally trans fer to your school dis -trict. En rol ment pro jec tions should be com pared to cur rent in struc tor ros ters at tar get student- teacher ra tios to de ter mine hir ing needs.

Human re source de part ments should set up re cruit ment time- lines.Re cruit ment should start early enough to at tract the best pos si ble pool of ap -pli cants. Hu man re source de part ments must keep abreast of the ex ter nal de -mand for teach ers such as the needs of other lo cal school dis tricts. This canbe done by at tend ing func tions with col leagues from other dis tricts such ashu man re source meet ings and meet ings at county de part ment of edu ca tionof fices. Hu man re source di rec tors can also pick up cur rent trends and hir ingneeds through lunches and regu lar phone con ver sa tions with ad min is tra torsat other dis tricts. Hold ing of fices in com mu nity or trade groups or boards ofother dis tricts or joint pow ers as so cia tions help di rec tors keep in touch withthe trends of the area. Hu man re source de part ments also must keep closetrack of the sup ply of quali fied teach ers. Close re la tion ships with area col -lege ca reer cen tres are help ful.

En vi ron men tal changes

Hu man re source de part ments must also be flexi ble to act when sig nifi cantchanges in the en vi ron ment oc cur. For ex am ple, pre par ing the best pos si bleen rol ment pro jec tions based on the in for ma tion avail able is es sen tial. How -ever, even the best pos si ble pro jec tion can turn out to be in ac cu rate. TheLen nox School Dis trict in Los An ge les County ex pe ri enced sig nifi cant in -creases in kin der gar ten en rol ment in the late 1990s. This small ele men taryschool dis trict is lo cated in a low- income area di rectly ad ja cent to the LosAn ge les In ter na tional Air port. The dis trict bounda ries cov ered only about asin gle square mile. There was no new hous ing or apart ment con struc tion toex plain the in crease in en rol ment. So, the dis trict had to act quickly whennew en rol ment ap pli ca tions were sub mit ted to re cruit teach ers to meet thede mand of the new stu dents. The ad min is tra tors specu lated that the in creasein en rol ment was due to heavy im mi gra tion from Mex ico and mul ti ple fami -lies liv ing in ex ist ing homes.

Another ex am ple of change in the en vi ron ment oc curred when Cali -for nia im ple mented a class size re duc tion pro gramme in the mid 1990s.The pro gramme funded the re duc tion of class sizes to 20 pu pils per classfrom the typi cal 30 pu pils for kin der gar ten through third grades. When thispro gramme was ini ti ated dis tricts in stantly had a huge in ter nal de mand forele men tary school teach ers. Since this was a state- wide pro gramme, the ex -ter nal de mand for teach ers through out the state also in creased in stantly. The dis tricts that acted quickly in their re cruit ment ef forts were able to hire themost quali fied can di dates.

In the 1960s school dis tricts had to make ma jor ad just ments, in clud -ing ma jor capi tal ex pan sion to ac com mo date the baby boom ers en ter ing the




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pub lic schools. Baby boom ers are the nick name of the gen era tion of chil -dren of post- World War II par ents who were born from 1945 to 1960. To -day, school dis tricts are deal ing with a smaller, yet still sig nifi cant bulge inat ten dance due to the en rol ment of the chil dren of baby boom ers. This gen -era tion of chil dren is some times re ferred to as tidal wave II. Due mainly totidal wave II, en rol ment in pub lic ele men tary and sec on dary schools rose 21 per cent from 1985 to 2002 (Sny der & Hoff man. 2003). Ade quate long- term re search and plan ning can ease the bur den of these in creases on school dis -tricts.

Class Size

Class size is a key con cern of all of the stake hold ers of any dis trict. One ofthe jobs of the hu man re source di rec tor is to de ter mine the tar get class sizesat each grade level and at each school in the dis trict. The chal lenge is to try to bal ance ef fi ciency with ef fec tive ness. Ef fi ciency is some times re ferred to as pro duc tiv ity. Ef fi ciency is the ra tio of out puts to in puts, or the amount ofout put per unit of in put. Ef fec tive ness is de ter mined by the re la tion ship be -tween an organi sa tions out put and its ob jec tives. In sum mary, an or gani sa -tion is ef fi cient if it does things right, and it is ef fec tive if it does the rightthings (An thony & Govin da ra jan. 2001).

In a school dis trict, larger class sizes are con sid ered more ef fi cientbe cause more stu dents are edu cated (out put) with less teacher sal ary ex -pense (in put) per pu pil. While a manu fac tur ing com pany may fo cus only onmaxi mum ef fi ciency (out put per in put), a school must be ever con scious ofthe qual ity of edu ca tion. With the goal of giv ing stu dents the best qual ityedu ca tion pos si ble, dis tricts would make stu dent - pu pil ra tios as low as pos -si ble. A dis trict ac count ant might tout the cost sav ings the dis trict would en -joy with teacher- pupil ra tios of 100 to 1. The vice su per in ten dent ofin struc tion might lobby for the qual ity edu ca tion the stu dents would re ceivewith teacher- pupil ra tios of 5 to 1. The board of di rec tors makes ul ti mate de -ci sions of the ma jor poli cies of the dis trict. The di rec tor of hu man re sourcesshould work with all stake hold ers, help build con sen sus and make soundrec om men da tions to the board re gard ing op ti mal class sizes to help the dis -trict de liver the high est qual ity edu ca tion at a rea son able cost to the tax pay -ers of the dis trict. Al most as im por tant as reach ing the op ti mal number ofstu dents per teacher is com mu ni cat ing clearly, to all stake hold ers, the rea -sons for the fi nal de ci sions made by the dis trict. As in many as pects of busi -ness and life in gen eral, per cep tion is key. If teacher- student ra tios areper ceived to be in ap pro pri ate by one or more of the stake holder groups, itmay be a prob lem to the dis trict even if the per cep tion is un jus ti fied.

Budg et ary Con cerns

The ma jor ity (roughly 75%) of fund ing for Cali for nia school dis trictscomes from state gen eral ap por tion ment and lo cal prop erty taxes. Alongwith this fund ing dis tricts also re ceive mil lions of dol lars an nu ally in the



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form of state and fed eral grants. This money is es sen tial to dis tricts in car ry -ing out many spe cial pro grammes in sup port of edu ca tion. Much of thesegrant al lo ca tions are spent on per son nel. The hu man re source di rec tors must be care ful in us ing these funds for per son nel costs. Some of these grants may be on go ing sources of reve nue, but there is no guar an tee that these dol larswill con tinue in fu ture years at the same rate or that they will con tinue at all.So, the hu man re source di rec tor must make sure that the poli cies of the dis -trict com mu ni cate clearly that po si tions funded by grant money are onlyavail able as long as the fund ing con tin ues. In many dis tricts, full- time po si -tions be come on go ing re gard less of the fund ing source. In these cases, thedis trict must pay the costs of these po si tions out of gen eral un re strictedfunds if the grant fund ing is re duced or elimi nated. The hu man re source di -rec tor must take these is sues into con sid era tion be fore ap prov ing the use ofgrant funds for per son nel.

Ad ver tis ing

The sup ply and de mand for teach ers will de ter mine the ex tent of re cruit -ment ad ver tis ing nec es sary. The budg et ary en vi ron ment will also be a fac -tor in the types and num bers of ad ver tise ments used. In ter nal fly ers and joban nounce ments on bul le tin boards are in ex pen sive and com mu ni cate jobopen ings to the in ter nal work force and their as so ci ates. How ever, if thereare many po si tions to be filled (high in ter nal de mand) and the sur round ingdis tricts have a great need for new teach ers (high ex ter nal de mand) and there are rela tively few quali fied can di dates (low sup ply), then the dis trict willneed to use more ex ten sive job an nounce ment ef forts. Ad ver tis ing in lo caland ma jor city news pa pers as well as trade pub li ca tions is a cost ef fec tiveway to pub li cise open po si tions.

The state of the econ omy is a ma jor fac tor in de ter min ing the ex tent ofre cruit ment ad ver tis ing. In re cent years, the re ces sion has re sulted in manymore ap pli cants than there are jobs avail able. This has been as true in edu ca -tion as in other in dus tries ac cord ing to Work force maga zine. They also notethat the re cent cor po rate scan dals have re sulted in a shift in the in ter est of job ap pli cants. While larger en ti ties might have a tougher time at tract ing peo -ple, it could be eas ier for start- ups, gov ern men tal and non- profit or gani sa -tions. The first week- end in August 2001, the Dal las In de pendent SchoolDis trict had a ca reer fair to re cruit ap pli cants for teach ing jobs. The turn outwas so large that many peo ple stood in line for hours to get in the door(Work force, 2002). In this en vi ron ment the ad ver tis ing costs and ef fortsmay be mini mal. How ever, the dis trict must watch en vi ron mental fac torsclosely and main tain the flexi bil ity to shift into an ag gres sive re cruit mentmode when nec es sary.

To com pete in the mod ern en vi ron ment, most dis tricts use online re -cruit ing. The growth of online re cruit ing is among the big gest changes inthe area of staff ing. Ac cord ing to the Inter net Busi ness Net work (1997), a




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con sult ing firm spe cial is ing in the online em ploy ment in dus try, in De cem -ber 1996 1.0 mil lion re sumes were online and 1.2 mil lion job va can cieswere ad ver tised over the inter net (Kraut & Kor man, 1999). This great tech -no logi cal change rep re sents not only a chal lenge, but also an op por tu nity toschool dis tricts. It may be dif fi cult to gain budget ap proval for a web mas terto set up and main tain a school dis trict web site. Some dis tricts use the serv -ices of ex ist ing in for ma tion tech nol ogy staff as part- time web mas ters. Thecost of this new tech nol ogy will pay off for the dis trict in many ways in clud -ing ex pand ing the re cruit ing area from sur round ing coun ties to the en tirestate and po ten tially the whole coun try.

Cre den tials

In con sid er ing ap pli cants for teach ing po si tions, school dis tricts rely onteacher cre den tials, such as cer ti fi ca tion, or teacher tests to de ter mine thequali fi ca tion of a can di date. From 1987- 88 to 1993- 94, in creas ing per cent -ages of pub lic school dis tricts re quired pas sage of state tests of ba sic skillsand sub ject knowl edge in the teacher hir ing pro cess, al though teacher cre -den tials were the most widely used cri te ria at each sur vey point (Na tionalCen tre for Edu ca tion Sta tis tics. 1997). In Cali for nia, teach ers must gen er -ally have cur rent teach ing cre den tials to be em ployed in the state. As in over80% of school dis tricts na tion wide, in Cali for nia, full stan dard state cer ti fi -ca tion is the cre den tial re quired (Cali for nia Edu ca tion Code Sec tions 44830 - 44929). The Cali for nia Edu ca tion Code also al lows dis tricts to ad min is terba sic skills pro fi ciency tests for teach ers (Ibid, Sec tion 44830(b)(1). TheEdu ca tion Code re duces teacher re quire ments to al low dis tricts to hireteach ers needed in emer gency situa tions. Emer gency or tem po rary cre den -tials may be ade quate in emer gency situa tions. The Code spe cifi cally al lows dis tricts to hire teach ers for the pur poses of class size re duc tion if they havenot taken the state ba sic skills pro fi ciency test within the past 39 months(Ibid, Sec tion 44830(c)(2).

Em ploy ment

Staff De vel op ment

Once teach ers are hired it is im por tant to prop erly train them and de veloptheir po ten tial. Teacher train ing be gins with new teacher ori en ta tions.These train ing ses sions serve many pur poses in clud ing in tro duc ing newteach ers to the new fa cili ties, new co- workers and new ad min is tra tive pro -ce dures. Teach ers are also ori ented into the goals and phi loso phies of thedis trict and the school. The spe cific cur ricu lum for the grade and sub jects(s)they will be teach ing is re viewed at ori en ta tion. Al most as im por tant as thefor mal train ing is the in for mal in tro duc tion to the gen eral en vi ron ment ofthe school (level of ad min is tra tive sup port, pa ren tal in volve ment, un ionsup port, etc.) that the new teacher re ceives from cas ual con ver sa tions withfel low teach ers, sup port staff and par ents.



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In the class room train ing such as work ing as a teach ers aide, stu dentteach ing and sub sti tute teach ing help pre pare teach ers for their own class -rooms. Well- planned staff de vel op ment and ca reer de vel op ment edu ca -tional ses sions can pro vide growth op por tu ni ties for teach ers.

Com pen sa tion

At tract ing and re tain ing qual ity teach ers are grow ing con cerns among edu -ca tion of fi cials and the pub lic. This is es pe cially true for be gin ning teach ersas school dis tricts com pete with each other and other in dus tries for ad di -tional teach ing per son nel to cope with grow ing en rol ments and an ag ingwork force. In creased sala ries po ten tially pro vide a means of at tract ing andre tain ing the in creased num bers of qual ity young teach ers who will beneeded in the years ahead. As a wave of younger teach ers hired in the mid- 1970s has aged, a demo graphic shift in the age of teach ers has oc curred.For ex am ple, in 1975, 53 per cent of all full- time teach ers were younger than age 35; in 1993, the per cent age of younger teach ers fell to about 23 per cent.

The an nual me dian teacher sal ary in con stant 1998 dol lars in creasedonly $986 or 2.9% from 1971 to 1998 na tionwide (Na tional Cen tre for Edu -ca tion Sta tis tics. 1999). This mod er ate in crease to the me dian teacher sal aryof $35,099 in 1998 has oc curred while the demo graphic shift has been an in -crease in older teach ers who typi cally earn more than younger teach ers. In1971 the me dian teacher with bache lors de grees earned 16.5% more thanthe over all me dian teacher. In 1998 this gap shrunk to 6.6% proba bly due tothe fact that more teach ers earn bache lors de grees now than thirty yearsago. Lo cal, as well as na tion wide trends must be con sulted when hu man re -source de part ments be gin to de velop sal ary sched ules.

Teacher Evalua tions

En gag ing in both for mal and in for mal as sess ment and evalua tion of class -room teach ing and learn ing are roles com mon to all school ad min is tra tors.The teacher as sess ment pro cess, when used as an evalua tion tool, is of tenrou tine and su per fi cial and most teach ers re ceive out stand ing scores.Clearly, op por tu ni ties are be ing missed for as sess ment of the teach ing andlearn ing pro cesses to sup port col le gi al ity and col labo ra tion, to iden tify pro -fes sional growth needs, and to ac quire the con tex tu ally spe cific data nec es -sary to im prove stu dent learn ing.

Teacher evalua tion is al most uni ver sally a role re quired of school ad -min is tra tors. Most teacher evalua tion poli cies and prac tices have done lit tleto im prove teach ing, learn ing and schools. Sound teacher as sess ment,evalua tion and pro fes sional growth pro cesses pro vide school ad min is tra -tors and teach ers rich op por tu ni ties to en hance the qual ity of teach ing andlearn ing in schools. Based on these two prem ises, it is ar gued that im ple -




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ment ing newer con cep tions of lead er ship in schools is an es sen tial fac torlink ing teacher evalua tion to im proved teach ing and learn ing (Davis, El lett& An nun zita. 2002).

The re sults of large- scale stud ies over the past two dec ades of teacher evalua tion prac tices in the na tions 100 larg est school dis tricts are ratheralarm ing. In short, these stud ies show that teacher evalua tion sys tems andprac tices are not typi cally used with the goal of im prov ing stu dent learn ingand achieve ment de spite at tes ta tions to the con trary. Dis trict level teacherevalua tion sys tems clearly con tinue to be bu reau cratic sys tems worlds in -tru sions into the life worlds of in di vid ual schools. School- level pro fes sion -als can choose to ei ther use a sys tem for the evalua tion of teach ing as:

* A per func tory and mean ing less bu reau cratic ne ces sity, or

* To use the teacher evalua tion sys tem as a mean ing ful pro cess thatis viewed as a cata lyst for im prov ing teach ing and learn ing inschools.

The sec ond choice re quires lead er ship, not just from the tra di tional,cen trist view of school lead er ship (the school prin ci pal), but also fromnewer, non- centrist per spec tives that en vi sion lead er ship role tak ing on thepart of all pro fes sional edu ca tors as es sen tial to de vel op ing schools as learn -ing or gani sa tions.

The teacher evalua tion has been typi cally viewed from a nar row pro -ce dural or tech ni cal per spec tive that fails to ap pre ci ate schools as com plexor gani sa tions and sys tems. New forms of teacher as sess ment, evalua tionand pro fes sional de vel op ment, when in te grated with new con cep tions ofde vel op ing lead er ship den sity in schools, can re sult in in creased op por tu ni -ties for learn ing among or gan isa tional mem bers. These op por tu ni ties are es -sen tial ele ments of school re form and im prove ment (Ibid. 2002).

Evalua tion sys tem. How can schools take ad van tage of the rich op por tu ni -ties the evalua tions have to of fer? First they must use new state of the artteacher evalua tion sys tems. The Pro fes sional As sess ment and Com pre hen -sive Evalua tion Sys tem (PACES) is cur rently be ing used with all 23,000teach ers and in struc tional sup port per son nel in the Miami- Dade CountyPub lic Schools. PACES is a learner- centred, classroom- based as sess mentand pro fes sional de vel op ment sys tem in tended to im prove the cul tural con -text of teach ing and learn ing in schools through new role tak ing on the partof school ad min is tra tors and teach ers. PACES was built around the core as -sump tion that teach ers are the heart of mean ing ful change and re form inedu ca tion. The evalua tion sys tem is im por tant, but the case study ofMiami- Dade County Pub lic Schools shows that lead er ship plays an es sen -tial role and in the ex treme cases it makes all the dif fer ence (Ibid.2002).

Ex treme ex am ples. Two ex treme ex am ples of the case study were la belledmeta phori cally as the knight in shin ing ar mour and the small jazz combo.



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Just based on those de scrip tions, it is dif fi cult to tell which is bet ter; theyboth have posi tive con no ta tions. The prin ci pal in the knight in shin ing ar -mour school was openly hos tile to wards the new teacher evalua tion sys tem.This prin ci pal be lieved that the new dis trict teacher evalua tion sys tem was athreat to teach ers pro fes sional ca reers and fre quently ex pressed this con -cern to teach ers. This placed the prin ci pal in the role of pro tect ing the teach -ers from what he be lieved to be an un in formed, in con sis tent, and hos tileevalua tion pol icy that was be ing un fairly forced on teach ers by a heavyhanded cen tral ad mini stra tion.

In con trast to the prob lems with the new evalua tion sys tem in theschool led by the knight in shin ing ar mour, the school fit ting the de scrip tionof lead er ship re flect ing the small jazz combo meta phor showed mul ti ple in -di ca tions of util is ing the new teacher as sess ment and evalua tion sys tem forthe im prove ment of teach ing and learn ing. This meta phor de scribes aschool in which pro fes sional edu ca tors are col labo rat ing to gether to wardsthe goal of qual ity teach ing and learn ing. While there is a rec og nis able mel -ody known by all (it could be the cur ricu lum, school phi loso phy, or even ateacher evalua tion sys tem), all mem bers of the or gani sa tion are free to ex -plore pos si bili ties within the struc tures of mel ody. In short, the small jazzcombo meta phor ap pears to elo quently cap ture the kinds of lead er ship formean ing ful school change and im prove ment de scribed by lead ing writ ers in the field. The leader in this type of or gani sa tion uses her tal ents as an edu ca -tor to fa cili tate sub tle changes in the meta phori cal mel ody or move the mel -ody to new lev els. How ever, oth ers in the or gani sa tion (teach ers, stu dents,sup port staff), through their own ex per tise and in ter ac tions with oth ers, alsohave the abil ity to in flu ence the mu sic of the school (e.g. in ter pre ta tion andim ple men ta tion of the core cur ricu lum). Eve ry one has a part in the lead er -ship nec es sary to im ple ment change in a way that bene fits the school (Ibid.2002).

This is remi nis cent of one of the main mes sages of Tom Pe ters in hisbook. The Search for Ex cel lence and his sub se quent films. Instead of astory of four lead ers, Mr. Pe ters said in tro duc ing four com pany suc cesssto ries, It be comes a story of 4,000 lead ers. In stead of be ing a di rec tivefrom dis trict ad mini stra tion, the small jazz combo school used the newevalua tion sys tem as a way to work as a team to im prove the teach ing andlearn ing en vi ron ment. In stead of a dis trict with one leader (the hu man re -sources di rec tor) or a school with one leader (the prin ci pal), it be comes aschool with 40 lead ers (the teach ers) and po ten tially a dis trict with 4,000lead ers.

La bour Re la tions

His tory

Col lec tive Bar gain ing - ne go tia tion be tween an em ployer and la bour un ionrep re sen ta tives - is a rela tively re cent de vel op ment in school dis tricts. In the




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1960s presi den tial or ders gave pub lic school teach ers am mu ni tion to in flu -ence state leg is la tors on the is sues of or gan is ing, bar gain ing, and bind ing ar -bi tra tion. By 1971, there were 27 state col lec tive bar gain ing laws forteach ers, al though very few of these pro vided the right to strike. How ever,in 1969- 1970, there were 180 teacher strikes, com pared to three in the1960- 1961 school year. By 1991, col lec tive bar gain ing in the pub lic schools was a re al ity in many dis tricts across the U.S. (Sharp. 1992). To day col lec -tive bar gain ing is the re al ity at al most all school dis tricts in Cali for nia andla bour ne go tia tions is one of the most im por tant func tions of the hu man re -sources di rec tor.

Bene fits of Col lec tive Bar gain ing

As in in dus try, the re la tion ship be tween man age ment and la bour un ions inschool dis tricts can be char ac ter ised by dis trust and ac ri mony. How ever, the hu man re sources di rec tor who can main tain good re la tions with or gan isedla bour will pro vide great value to her dis trict. At its best, col lec tive bar gain -ing pro vides a mecha nism for:

* De vel op ing agree ments con cern ing work place op era tions;

* Jointly set com pen sa tion and work ing con di tions;

* Pro vides for due pro cess in deal ing with in di vid ual prob lems;

* Re flects our socie tys demo cratic val ues; and

* Mir rors our con sti tu tional sys tem of checks and bal ances (Ab bott, Chisholm & War ren. 1994).

Of these ne go tia tion is sues, com pen sa tion draws the most at ten tion.Eve ry one wants to know, Whats our raise? That per cent age raise is of tenused like a stu dents let ter grade to judge the suc cess of ne go tia tions and tocom pare to other dis tricts and other or gani sa tions. This of ten over sim pli fies the depth of the ne go tia tion pro cess and may be quite in ade quate in com mu -ni cat ing what was achieved in the col lec tive bar gain ing pro cess, but it is are al ity that both sides of the pro cess must be aware of.

Despite the gen er al is ing per cep tions of many, a va ri ety of em ployeere la tions is sues can be ne go ti ated through col lec tive bar gain ing and the hu -man re source di rec tor must be aware of long- term im pli ca tions of ne go ti -ated agree ments. As an ex am ple, prior to the mid 1980s some dis trictsagreed to pro vide life time health bene fits to re tir ees. That may have been area son able com mit ment at the time, how ever, since then health care costshave in creased sub stan tially (10% in creases per year are now com mon) andlife spans are longer so that those bene fits are now pro jected to be muchmore costly than ever an tici pated. Ac tu ar ial stud ies proj ect the pres entvalue of re tiree bene fits in the tens of mil lions of dol lars for many dis tricts.Many dis tricts are un der funded in this area.



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Case Stud ies

The po ten tial of col lec tive bar gain ing is dem on strated in re cent case stud -ies. In 1997, Lom poc Uni fied School Dis trict com pleted a 15- year jour neyin the pro fes sion ali sa tion of teach ers as they im ple mented in clu sive col -labo ra tion ne go tia tions in their ef fort to re form edu ca tion. Edu ca tional re -form that fo cuses on pro fes sion al is ing teach ers by ex pand ing their roles canre sult in long- lasting or gan isa tional change. In the Lom poc Uni fied SchoolDis trict teach ers were able to col labo rate with man age ment and make de ci -sions about pol icy, teacher evalua tions, and budg et ary pri ori ties. The im pli -ca tions for re form are vi tal be cause the tra di tional la bour re la tions para digm of col lec tive bar gain ing will be re de fined as man age ment and teach ers work hand- in- hand to trans form schools (Cline & Ne co chea. 1997).

A sec ond school la bour re la tions case study high lights the state- widela bour man age ment com mit tee formed to im prove re la tions in Cali for niaschool dis tricts through an in ten sive train ing pro cess. The com mit tee wasformed in 1989 com pris ing rep re sen ta tives of all the ma jor man age mentand un ion or gani sa tions in the school sec tors and per son nel from Cali for -nias Pub lic Em ploy ment Re la tions Board. The pur suit of a set of goals andob jec tives has shaped the work of the com mit tee from its in cep tion.

Prior to the for ma tion of this com mit tee, the Ameri can pub lic schoolsys tem was re ported to be un der siege. Teacher mo rale was low based onCar ne gie Foun da tion polls. The com mit tees first goal was to fa cili tate theabil ity of the par tici pants to pro duce meas ur able im prove ment in the re la -tion ship in a dis trict be tween the un ion and man age ment within a col lec tivebar gain ing frame work. The com mit tee fur ther speci fied the ob jec tives ofthe train ing by which par tici pants would reach this goal as:

1. Be come fa mil iar with the at ti tudes, skills, and prac tices whichpro mote ef fec tive labour- management re la tion ships;

2. Be come fa mil iar with and prac tice es sen tial ele ments of ef fec tivene go tia tions;

3. Be come fa mil iar with and prac tice ef fec tive com municati ons,prob lem solv ing, and con sen sus build ing;

4. Iden tify sources of con flict and dis trust, and de velop strate gies for build ing trust and ef fec tively man ag ing con flict; and

5. Work ing as a team from each dis trict, de velop a plan to im provetheir re la tion ship.

The com mit tees first out come was the de vel op ment of a five- daytrain ing pro gramme fo cus ing on:

1. Ne go ti at ing and problem- solving skills;

2. Im proved group and in ter per sonal com mu ni ca tion skills;




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3. Change man age ment; and 4. Re la tion ship im prove ment.Pro gramme re sults. Sev eral ma jor ur ban school dis tricts par tici pated in thepro gramme and have re ported ex cel lent re sults from the train ing. Sac ra -mento City Uni fied School Dis trict and San Juan Uni fied School Dis trictboth came to the pro gramme with a his tory of ad ver sar ial re la tion ships, hard bar gain ing and strikes. Since the train ing, they have re ported ma jor dif fer -ences in trust lev els, sub stan tial re duc tions in griev ance ac tiv ity, and in -creased scope of labour- management ac tiv ity and dis cus sion. Both alsofaced ma jor budget cuts and used the pro cesses learned dur ing the train ingto de velop mu tu ally agreed strate gies for meet ing the new situa tion. Oneun ion leader com mented, Our dis trict budget pro cess this year was in clu -sive and has led to far less con fron ta tion and pub lic pos tur ing than usual insuch cir cum stances. We are ac tu ally work ing to gether on so lu tions to someprob lems that have fes tered for years.

Surveys evalu at ing the pi lot phase of the com mit tees work also in di -cated tre men dous posi tive prog ress. Par tici pants re ported dra matic im -prove ments in their la bour re la tions af ter the train ing. Be fore the train ing,70% char ac ter ised their re la tion ships as ad ver sar ial, 20% as neu tral, and 8% as co- operative. Af ter the train ing, 87% de scribed their re la tion ships as co- operative and less than 1% as ad ver sar ial (Ab bott, Chisholm & Rose. 1994).

Some of these ini tia tives dis cussed may be quite lofty and ide al is tic.In prac tice it may be dif fi cult for the hu man re source di rec tor to go be yondthe tra di tional op era tions at a school dis trict, but to achieve truly ef fec tivehu man re source man age ment in school dis tricts, the hu man re source di rec -tor must take an ac tive role in the im ple men ta tion of change.



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Ref er ences

Ab bott, Jan; Chisholm, Les; Rose, War ren. 1994. Shift ing the para digm:Labor- management re la tions change. Pub lic Ad min istra tion Quar terly,pp.18- 19.

An thony, Rob ert N. & Govin da ra jan, Vi jay. 2001. Man age ment con trolsys tems. New York: McGraw- Hill Higher Edu ca tion.

Cali for nia Edu ca tion Code Sec tions 44830 - 44929.

Cali for nia Edu ca tion Code Sec tion 44830(b)(1).

Cali for nia Edu ca tion Code Sec tion 44830(c)(2).

Cline, Zul mara & Ne co chea, Juan. 1997. In clu sive col labo ra tive ne go tia -tions: A new la bor re la tions para digm in the Lom poc uni fied school dis -trict. Jour nal of Col lec tive Ne go tia tions in the Pub lic Sec tor, 26,pp.303- 332.

Davis, Doug las R., El lett, Chad D. and An nunzi ata, Joyce. 2002. Teacherevalua tion, lead er ship and learn ing or gani za tions. Jour nal of Per son nelEvalua tion in Edu ca tion. 16, pp.287- 301.

Kraut, Al len I. & Kor man, Abra ham K. 1999. Evolv ing prac tices in hu manre source man age ment. San Fran cisco: Jossey- Bass Pub lish ers.

Na tional Cen ter for Edu ca tion Sta tis tics. 1997. Cre den tials and tests inteacher hir ing: What do dis tricts re quire? NCES pp.97- 592.

Na tional Cen ter for Edu ca tion Sta tis tics. 1999. The con di tion of edu ca -tion. Qual ity of edu ca tion en vi ron ments (Ele men tary/sec on dary). Sec tionII.

Sharp, Wil liam L. 1992. Col lec tive ne go tia tions: An his tori cal per spec -tive. Jour nal of Col lec tive Ne go tia tions in the Pub lic Sec tor. 21, p.231.

Sny der, Tho mas D. & Hoff man, Char lene M. 2003. Di gest of edu ca tion sta -tis tics 2002. Na tional Cen ter for Edu ca tion Sta tis tics, U.S. De part ment ofEdu ca tion. p.1.

Work force. Anony mous. 2002. Hard times for cor po rate hir ing. Work -force, 81:is sue 9.




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